


Sick Day

by Surly_Sour



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-12 14:50:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21478159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Surly_Sour/pseuds/Surly_Sour
Summary: Mainly inspired from those collection of 'sick day' instagram posts.A cleared schedule should be the perfect time to catch up on some work for Nathalie, right?  Now if everyone else would just get that memo.
Relationships: Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth/Nathalie Sancoeur
Comments: 5
Kudos: 85





	Sick Day

_ What was the point of this? _

Nathalie found herself yet again shifting uncomfortably on the small couch, one she still couldn’t quite convince herself to slouch upon. There was no one to disapprove if she had, no one but herself, but it still felt as though it would be an insult to the decor. Instead, she refocused her efforts in angling her laptop to cut the glare from the sun, while somehow still balancing it across her lap. 

This entire idea of working somewhere but the office was complete nonsense and honestly she should have simply picked up her bag and left for the day the minute it had been brought up.

It wasn’t that the room was horrible or out of repair, it certainly made her own comfortable but spartan apartment look shabby. 

It may have been a long while since the Agreste family had guests other than her occasional overnight stays, but the staff still maintained the space with the same diligence they kept with the rest of the property. Not a speck of dust or faded mark to be seen, from the ceiling to the polished floor, every piece of furniture meant to coordinate and compliment the space - this area was as the rest of the mansion - gorgeous. 

And it was one of the last places she wanted to be.

A beautifully appointed bedroom with a tempting glimpse of the Parisian skyline just beyond the privacy line of trees - at any other time would have been a treat to have this moment to herself. 

Granted, the view didn't hold the same charm as it did when she had first started working for the Agrestes - once you found yourself able to run fearlessly across the rooftops of their beautiful city - admiring it wasn't the same. 

So instead of surrounding herself in peace and beauty, she was being subjected to a slow blinding while wading through the tedious snarl of correspondence and confirmations that had been put off until the last minute. Even without the suggestion of relaxing, this entire process was likely causing her even more stress than necessary. 

She could have easily done this on the computer at her desk. 

But no, this was all because Gabriel had decided to be more difficult than usual today. He had first started the workday suggesting, then insisting she work elsewhere this morning and had nearly resorted to gently pushing her from his office himself by the end of it. 

Which was where Nathalie found herself, confused, annoyed and exiled ‘To Go Rest’.

When exactly did he think she had time to rest - executive assistants didn’t rest and his business wasn’t going to run itself if he decided today wasn’t going to be a productive work day.

Nathalie had considered the dining room at first before deciding against it with her own tired resignation. Rest meant being somewhere in the general vicinity of a place to lay down - because Gabriel would be in enough of a micromanaging mood to check later and immediately chide if she wasn’t following his orders to the letter. No desk outside of his office, no dining room table with it’s vantage point of the office doors, no chair in the foyer and questioning stares from the bodyguard -

One good day already spoiled with a headache. 

However upon entering the guest room with the laptop she used for travel in her arms, Nathalie had already decided rest was out of the question. There would be no working in bed and once tossing her blazer on the silver and slate comforter, had placed herself to the mercy of some long forgotten interior decorator that had decided that this couch needed to be arranged to directly face the tall window.

To Rest. 

She was beginning to despise the word, even if it came from Gabriel with somewhat good intentions. 

Resting was being taken under advisement. 

Gabriel still had plans, plans that required her to be fully capable to carry out. But Nathalie thought he would have been pleased that she had woken up feeling like her old self this morning. No dragging herself out of bed and into the first of far too many cups of coffee and so far had spent her morning without a cough or dizzy-spell - if it was to be taken as a sign for the better, Gabriel had been too busy to hear of it. 

Too busy even with a city wide outbreak of the flu and a multitude of cancellations to their schedules.

_ Had something changed? _

No doubt he would tell her when he was ready - or would just leave her to figure it out. 

Wouldn’t be the first time. 

Regardless, she needed to use that time to her advantage, opportunities didn't come like this often unless you were willing to once in a while sacrifice sleep and break a few labor laws. The demands and workload had been mercifully lenient, but that wouldn’t last for long. 

Adrien might have time to fit in small but innocent acts of rebellion for the sake of salvaging some sort of happy childhood, Gabriel might always have time to design and plot and Hawkmoth may have had time to continue his pursuit of the Miraculous - but her? 

Time was a limited resource - but that was why he paid her to worry about it. 

There were schedules to plan, charity galas and shows to prepare, there were shoots and always a meeting with someone needing their hands held through the creative process - as always a maddening rush from one thing to another for her to hack responsibilities down into something far more manageable for the pair of Agrestes to handle. 

And of course the ever present complications of Hawkmoth gleefully clashing against those carefully arranged preparations. She may have admired and loved him, but there were still days she wanted to throttle Monsieur Agreste for ignoring the schedule in the name of inspiration and single-minded determination towards a terror campaign for magical jewelry. 

All the better to get atop of it now and show that she still could handle things - that she was still valuable. 

_ Stop it _. Nathalie shook her head hard at that melodramatic and equally stupid notion, as though that would dislodge it and send the distracting thought right back where it came from. She knew she was appreciated, she didn’t need any version of him to confirm that - what she didn’t need was Gabriel to continue to worry over her or her health. 

She may have relished the attention and the thrill even if it came with a more than large and equally sobering measure of guilt whenever Emilie’s portrait caught her eye - but with Adrien home sick? She hoped Gabriel would realize it would be too risky to attempt an attack and would decide to spend the morning with Emilie instead. 

Now if only Gabriel would actually spend some time with…

A soft cough and a knock sounded from the door. “Nathalie?” 

She glanced up from her momentary brood, lifting a brow at the rose colored blanket occupying the open doorway. A shift of the fabric revealed Adrien hiding under it, his face still pinkish and puffy-eyed. Very much not in bed where he was supposed to be.

Nathalie was not surprised in the least that he could still manage to get into trouble even while sick.

“You should be in bed, Adrien.” 

He glanced down at his feet, his hands twisting at the knitted edge of the blanket. “I know, but…I was wondering if I could just sit with you for a little bit.” 

_ Because he’s been trapped in his room all morning and he’s bored. _

This could be a situation that would possibly bite her later on, already hearing the complaints of her being too soft on the son of her employer in the back of her head. Gabriel would claim she was spoiling him, inevitably he always did in his worst moments even if he knew they were done with good intentions, but she couldn’t blame Adrien. 

His entire day was scheduled down to the minute to ensure he stayed busy, to suddenly be left with nearly an entire week of nothing to do? No doubt the boy was going stir-crazy.

She sighed lightly, “Only for a little while, Adrien. Your father wouldn’t be happy to see you out of bed.”

“I think my father wouldn’t be happy if I was in bed either.” He muttered softly in return. It was true in a way, Gabriel was in enough of a mood today for his bedside manner to be left at the brusk order of ‘Rest’. 

He was concerned over his son, but he was careful.

For the amount of gentle prodding she had to do some days to get them to occupy the same room, Nathalie wished he wouldn’t be.

But she kept those thoughts to herself, no need to slip into the trap of criticizing secret keeping and lackluster parenting skills, especially when she was no better. Far safer pretending to miss that comment, to have her attention taken back to something important on the screen as she patted the open space beside her on the couch. No harm in allowing Adrien to escape the confines of his bedroom for a little while - she knew there was no worse misery than being sick and alone.

Because that’s what Nathalie did best - she handled things. 

At the invitation Adrien sat with a more than ungraceful flop, sniffling as he rearranged his blanket back into the cowl over his head. Usually feeling horrible didn’t mean going to the trouble of looking the part as well; Nathalie bit back on the urge to laugh at how he looked. 

She could only imagine Emilie striking a similar pose. Gracelessly draped in her shroud of bed linen and travel itineraries - looking the image of perfection while pouting up at her for disturbing her morning - that was quickly turning into an afternoon. Especially upon hearing if the schedule for the day was particularly full on a day she didn’t want it to be. As though giving the largest doe eyes possible would convince Nathalie on the spot to call the photographer and their team in hopes that they would accept a last minute reschedule.

Herding cats, every last one of these Agrestes. 

“Did you make sure all of your classwork was included?” Obviously it was, but it was the first thing Nathalie could seize upon in her mind to break the awkward silence. 

She had checked it herself after informing the school of his absence and picking up the books he had left. She knew what was coming next by the look of disappointment that crossed his face at the mention of the work that had been delivered along with his breakfast. 

Another sniffle as he slouched further into himself and his blanket, “I was hoping one of my friends would have brought them…”

He wouldn’t have even been allowed outside if they had come.

“I was in the area and you don’t want to risk spreading your illness to others, Adrien.” That wasn’t completely true. Adrien was already upset at finding himself being pushed into the corner that Gabriel wanted him in more and more. His Father might have still been reluctant to change, but Adrien was going to with or without his approval - even if he wisely kept those feelings to himself. They were still there and that was no doubt an argument waiting down the line. 

No, far better to allow that subject to remain untouched for a little while longer. 

Let him still count her as a trusted but neutral party.

_ Regret to inform … still awaiting the quarterly productivity report… not taking... would be honored… at this time … refer to the Spring Schedule to… _ Her hands danced across the keyboard again, another collection of responses sent in rapid succession.

“It might be mild, but remember that the doctor said you needed to limit your exposure to others for a few days.” Besides, she had seen that his classmates had already checked in on him over their social media accounts - the majority promising to call and send him notes. 

He wasn’t completely fulfilling that lonesome role he was trying to play on her.

“...yeah.” _ Ah, the ever popular ‘Ms. Nathalie is using common sense on me again’ tone. _

Another disappointed sound and he lapsed into silence, watching her quickly tap through window after window on the laptop. Client emails, design proofs being sent out, manufacturing schedules being sent back in - a dizzying process of information that would be trimmed down into much easier report by the end of the day. 

Watching without a single idea that her productive rush was simply her taking advantage of a moment that she didn’t feel ready to fall over or that her plans might include a pause and frantic shuffle in the day’s already pared down schedule for another attack on Paris... 

“Nathalie?” 

“Mm?” Her eyes flicked back to the golden haired boy as he moved to lean against her side, his head coming to rest lightly upon her shoulder. He had plenty of room, even had she not straightened out of her sorry attempt of being casual, instinct had crammed her into the corner of the couch long before he had joined her. Green eyes glanced up at her and she found herself freezing in a moment of uncertainty as to how to respond to this invasion of her space. 

_ Did he know? _

Could he see through their carefully crafted facade - no, obviously that was paranoia. _ It was nothing. _ She shook herself into offering him a smile. This was just a child wanting comfort, even if it came from a person employed by his family. 

Something any other normal child would get from their parents when they were ill. 

Nathalie hm’d again as she resumed typing, finding more concern over jostling him while typing and her sweater being too itchy for his face to rest against than the actual invasion of her space. She didn’t have the heart to tell him to sit back up.

“You are okay… right? Father … he isn’t just saying that so I don’t worry?” His voice was soft but the concern rang through clearly. Adrien peered out at her from under his blanket, for any sign that he had successfully caught her off guard, that she wouldn’t be lying to him by insisting she was fine this time.

Would he expect her to lie to him? 

_ How many times had Gabriel given her that same exact look now? _

_ Too many times. _

Perhaps it had been good that she had been thinking of what to say for a while now, it was going to be asked sooner or later. If not here, it would have been asked in the car or at a meal or any other time they were not under the watch of others. “As much as I can be, Adrien. Maybe it has been a hard change in seasons - but I am feeling better.” 

Her response sounded natural despite the amount of times she had rehearsed it in her own head.

At least she could couch it within some truth. 

She felt better - today. Tomorrow wasn’t on the table yet.

At least she hoped it sounded genuine but she knew Adrien would still walk away weighing her words for the remainder of the evening. Her next cough or dizzy spell would be looked with that same sharp scrutiny, held against the memories of his mother’s private afflictions for similarities. 

“Your mother was always sensitive to things like that… the change of seasons. She didn’t want you to worry. Perhaps I was so busy with my own concern for her to notice I was experiencing something like it myself.” 

Nathalie gave into carding cool fingers through far too warm hair as she spoke, pushed the blanket back from his head. Repeating a gesture she had seen Emilie do a hundred times in response to the hundred questions that would pour out of her adoring son. Anything to distract him from asking more questions, offering her own soft but reassuring smile to counter his contemplative pause. 

She felt like a fraud the instant she had done it, even if it had been immediately buried by the warmth of Adrien’s comforted smile as he closed his eyes.

The feeling still struggled under that warmth - panicked and crying out that it was better if he went back to his room soon, this couch was too uncomfortable, there was too much sun and he would be due for another dosage of medicine to control the fever soon if it was already starting to creep back up.

_ You’re not his mother. You have no right to do that. _

He was still a child and though she wasn’t well versed in anything you could consider maternal - beyond personal experience with her own mother and what one could find on internet searches - _ someone _ needed to give him these things until the matter was sorted out. 

She didn’t need to think about what would happen if they didn’t succeed, that subject had been well reviewed almost as much as what might happen if Gabriel came to his senses and gave all this up - “It’s kind of you to be so concerned, but don’t worry about me. You need to take care of yourself first, Adrien.” 

“I take enough care of myself, I think I’m allowed to worry about -” He caught himself before he allowed that train of thought to get him into trouble. Adrien sat up, giving a sigh that quickly broke into a fit of hard coughing. 

_ He should be in bed. _

Nathalie felt a cough of her own creeping up on her in sympathy as she gently patted his back, watching as he worked at getting his own back under control, finishing with a weak smile as he straightened. “I’m not a child.”

“Said the young man currently sulking like one.” Gabriel’s voice sharply sounded behind them.

Adrien jumped, coughing again in choked surprise. 

Nathalie hadn’t twitched. 

Gabriel could be quiet when he wanted to be, even if it wasn’t much of a surprise for Nathalie, she was used to his disappearing and reappearing without warning. No doubt their emotions had drawn him here - but had he been standing there for long? 

“Especially when he is intentionally ignoring the orders of his doctor and _ not resting _.”

Judging by the tone, yes, that had been directed towards both of them. 

Adrien sat up, his good posture back instantly as he turned to defend himself. “I was resting…”

“...on Nathalie? Yes, I could see that when I couldn’t find you in your room. I was about to ask if she had seen you and here you are. I came to the compromise of allowing her to do her work in a little more comfort instead of taking the day off, but if you’re determined to ensure she has to take time off by thoughtlessly giving her the flu - perhaps I should cancel my meetings and send her home instead.” 

The comment scored a direct hit as Adrien looked horrified over the idea that he could possibly make her worse, quickly taking himself and his blanket off the couch. If he was getting color from embarrassment or a returning fever, she couldn’t tell, she was too focused on trying not to cough. It would only make it worse. “I’ll… I’ll get back to bed, I’m sorry, Father. Nathalie.” 

Gabriel nodded with approval as Adrien passed, his expression softening briefly towards his son. “You needed some time out of your room, now that you have gotten it, see that you go back and focus on getting better.”

They both watched his swift retreat in silence, waiting until the sound of doors closing to echo back down to them, but it was Gabriel that spoke first at that sound as he crossed the room in measured steps. Watching as she held tight to her laptop with one hand and finally released the cough she had been holding, her good morning gone in the instant the breath was once again stolen away from her. “This isn’t resting. And you’re humoring him too much.” 

Calm, hands held behind his back, his shadow cast in the place Adrien been a moment before.

Slowly now, she sat back up and carefully chanced speaking once the fit had passed. “Sir, he’s sick.” 

If Emilie had been there - would she have doted on Adrien? She would have given him a momentary pat on the head or would have been a sympathetic voice at the other end of a telephone - but Nathalie knew in the end she would have been too busy and it still would have fallen to her or someone else on staff to handle it.

That’s why she was around - to handle it. 

Whatever his first response was going to be, he quickly stifled it before starting again. “He doesn’t need to worry -” _ Because I told him not to worry, isn’t that enough? _

Nathalie shrugged in response, “He’s going to anyway, even if you tell him not to.” 

Gabriel couldn’t protect him forever, though with the efforts he was taking, perhaps he was determined to try. Nathalie watched as he moved to sit on the couch, straight-backed and immaculate - despite his discomfort over those words - she was hopeful the sigh he gave was over her being right. 

She chanced a gentle but brief pat to the back of the hand upon his knee as he settled, “You don’t need to worry as much, but you still do.” 

He stared down at the hand Nathalie had touched and watched her quick withdraw, an expression similar to Adrien’s contemplative look crossing his face before he returned to staring out the window. Of course she would know how much he worried, for anyone else sharing that burden would have been a comfort.

For Gabriel Agreste? 

It was a little more complicated. 

But it earned her a sigh all the same. 

Her plan had been to simply go back to her work, expecting him to rise and return to his office now that peace had been restored - Had he always looked this tired before? The screen of her laptop had darkened from her inactivity and she found herself studying Gabriel’s profile in this moment of quiet instead - something was decidedly off. 

More than the recent awkwardness that they mutually had decided to stubbornly ignore.

That was complicated too. 

His voice? Perhaps he had overdone it the day before, allowing his frustration to carry over from his transformation, leaving his voice rougher than usual? No. Nathalie pulled back and sharply frowned, putting what she was seeing quickly together with a growing sense of disappointment. Was he… 

Unless he had found a way of making his light complexion even paler, yet somehow _ pinker _ by the ears… she caught herself before she reached over to put her hand on his forehead to confirm her suspicions. Was this why he had made such a case over breaking normal routine of her working at her desk in the office today -

“You caught it too.” 

_ The absolute hypocrite. _

He caught himself before he scowled, but she had seen the subtle signs that he knew he had been found out. “All the more reason why it would be better if you were to work from home for the next few days - and prepare.” Deftly avoided by the man who once had determinedly worked himself into pneumonia and had shared that fact with pride long ago at an investment luncheon. 

No wonder he was putting on a mask of normalcy for his son, he didn’t want to worry Adrien further. 

“Sir, if I was to go home now - I don’t think I could guarantee that you wouldn’t turn around and make yourself worse by possibly over-extending yourself.” The Miraculous could make them impervious to most damage, but it still carried limitations - a reasonable counter - had it been a reasonable person she was talking to. “Someone needs to be here to care for Adrien.”

Ladybug might have been able to fix Paris time and time again, but she certainly wasn’t curing the flu anytime soon. It would be almost laughable if both heroes and their respective villains were all too sick to fight.

But her words had landed a hit of their own as Gabriel flicked his eyes towards her and immediately away, his mask slipping enough to allow himself to sit back on the couch fully before softly responding. “I seem to remember you saying something about people noticing the last time we discussed this, Nathalie.” 

_ He of all people was going to accuse her of complicating things? Him? _She was trying to create boundaries for the sake of both of them and he was still bothered over being told no? Duusu didn’t even have to be around and she could almost hear the tiny Kwami’s excitement, she already heard enough of it from the feathered emotional whirlwind. 

“I’m not agreeing to staying overnight, I’m saying I’ll stay if I can go back to my desk and you at least attempt to take a nap.”

“I’m not tired.”

Nathalie found it was her turn to frown back at the man who suddenly found the fabric of his sleeve extremely interesting. 

His response sounded as convincing as her insisting she was fine during the worst of the effects of the broken brooch. _I’m Fine. I’m Not_ _Tired_. _Nothing Is Wrong. _That’s obviously why he had taken his glasses off and was currently pinching the bridge of his nose - was he hoping to keep the flu at bay by force of will?

Knowing Gabriel? That was a possibility. 

She watched him carefully replace his glasses, considering her next course of action - ignore him? Try to decide what to do if he did indeed leave her to handle his conferences again? It was just more needless complications for her to figure out as the pride in her progress disappeared. 

She felt herself wanting to chew the inside of her cheek until it was raw, but tamped down the urge, frustration wouldn’t fix this. 

Calling Adrien back to claim his father so they could leave her in peace wouldn’t help either - tempting as it was to force the two of them to spend time in the same room as father and son. 

Even if it was spent together sick. 

They would just camp out on a different couch, both expecting her attention.

Was that what he was looking for now, for her to just go? To have more of a reason to be even more miserable - the man never did anything halfway, did he? 

What was it that they said about negotiating with terrorists? 

Nathalie acted upon that thought, she didn’t have the same feeling of effortless charm she did as Mayura. That was likely a good thing. When she was Mayura it felt as though the troubles of the world could be snapped away with a click of her fingers, blown away with a fan flutter and solved with a smile, but that familiar sense settled over her as she reached over and took his hand in hers. 

He wanted to be difficult? Alright, if she could handle the most ill tempered of fashion models - 

“...fine.” And that was that. She smartly tapped the trackpad with her free hand, adjusted the screen and waited for him to pull his hand away, to storm off and allow her to resume working through her tasks. 

_ I’m going to type one handed if I have to because so help me I am going to get some form of work done. I’m not going to even acknowledge that I’m holding the hand of Gabriel Agreste just so he can somehow figure out that he shouldn’t be working himself into a hospital stay. Again. _

“Nathalie?” He doesn’t try to pull away - his hand is dry and too warm and his thumb cautiously brushes over the top of hers and if anything he almost sounds uncertain. Was he afraid she was about to have another attack? 

_ I’m going to sit here, be thankful that I have gotten my flu vaccination and I am going to get at least twenty more of these emails answered and the sun and the Agrestes and their communicable illnesses can all be damned. _

“...Nathalie?” It was softer now, this voice. He had plenty of other interactions to study the context over, but to have hand holding be this much of a concern almost made her want to laugh. 

She needed that bright and brave feeling because if she looked at him, her confidence would be gone in an instant. He wasn’t upset by this strange course of action, but Nathalie forced herself to keep her eyes locked onto the screen and her voice neutral as she pulled up the itinerary for the day. “You have two hours before your first teleconference, Sir. Please use this time to rest.”

This almost felt - Nice? Normal? Whatever served as normal and nice what with magical teenagers fighting people turned monsters across the Parisian cityscape in the quest of reviving magically cursed spouses these days.

“I’ll disturb your progress.”

“You’re only finishing what Adrien started, I’ll make do.”

Gabriel shifted on the couch as he let out another one of those quiet sounds of resignation, arguing would only prove her point, he needed to rest as much as she did. And after a moment more he obliged, leaving Nathalie feeling a little more successful upon hearing the click of his glasses being set down and watched him settle back once more from the corner of her eye.

“Twenty minutes.”

Nathalie looked as though he had just made the offer of using rayon over silk. “Hour and a half.” Firm. No negotiations. 

It was obvious he didn’t like it, but any arguments remain unsaid as he stretched his legs out before him and made himself as comfortable as he could without leaning on her. Not that she would have complained if he had. His thumb was still tracing small restless circles against the side of her hand before finally that too slowed to stillness. 

Likely he wouldn’t last an hour and a half, he would be lucky if he made it an hour before something else needed his attention and brought him back to his feet - an important call from a demanding client, a creative urge, a certain spike of negative energy to create an akuma, even Adrien sneaking out of his room once more - the list was endless.

For now, she listened to the sounds of his breathing evening out as she resumed her slow progress in typing.

She could handle this. 


End file.
